This invention relates generally to a bearing assembly with a data sensor and, more particularly, to a seal with a sensor element for mounting on a fixed ring of a bearing.
French Patent No. 2,574,501 describes a bearing seal and a bearing in which the sensor device consists of a support plate carrying a contact assembly to which the sensor and the feeder terminals are connected.
When the sensor device carries a Hall-effect probe, the sensor element has a reduced size. However, the Hall-effect element is sensitive and must be protected, jointly with its connections, by a housing that increases the space required by the sensor device. Such a housing cannot be mounted on bearings having an internal diameter of the inner ring of less than 20 mm or having an insufficient radial separation between the respective flanks of the stationary ring and the rotating ring.
French Patent No. 2,655,735 describes a sensor device consisting of a flexible circular film that carries a conducting circuit. Such a sensor device must be mounted on a bearing with a predetermined diameter. Moreover, it is known that the resolution of the signal delivered by the sensor device depends on the arrangement of the conducting circuit and consequently on the dimension of the bearing.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present devices and methods. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter.